tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32397002.post667633539182184893..comments2023-12-24T17:46:11.447-06:00Comments on Plotters & Manipulators United: The Thinking Woman’s Alpha HeroSherry Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12313921077346721887noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32397002.post-91046606726620871802007-10-19T13:59:00.000-05:002007-10-19T13:59:00.000-05:00I think you hit a great point, Janine. Variety is...I think you hit a great point, Janine. Variety is the spice of life. Many heroes I've dearly loved are nobody's idea of an leader (Nardi from Bliss, for example).<BR/><BR/>I think, looking back in this post, that I was in some ways talking more about real life than romance, about the leaders I wished we had and the qualities I wish they possessed--be they men or women.Sherry Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12313921077346721887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32397002.post-37440297885451626012007-10-19T11:31:00.000-05:002007-10-19T11:31:00.000-05:00You've been blogging up a storm lately, Sherry! E...You've been blogging up a storm lately, Sherry! Every time I come here there's a new and exciting post. :)<BR/><BR/>Regarding alpha heroes, I love them to bits, but I also don't think that every hero should be an alpha. <BR/><BR/>Or a beta. Or a gamma. Men come in a dizzying number of varieties, so why should romance heroes be confined to two or three types?<BR/><BR/>I also don't mind reading about an immature hero (provided he has some good qualities, too), especially if he grows into his maturity convincingly over the course of the book.<BR/><BR/>Sometimes, just as I get tired of reading about hyper-masculine men with bulging muscles, I get tired of reading about paragons of virtue, too. Other times, those muscled heroes or mature leaders really hit the spot for me. I'm all about the variety, and want to see more of it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32397002.post-68687728735684024622007-10-15T05:58:00.000-05:002007-10-15T05:58:00.000-05:00cm,I thought Lisa Kleypas had kicked that door wid...cm,<BR/><BR/>I thought Lisa Kleypas had kicked that door wide open with her non-lord heroes?<BR/><BR/>Beverley,<BR/><BR/>I also haven't come across a whole lot of pseudo-alphas lately. For me, the reason is that I have to hear heaps and heaps of good things about a romance to pick it up nowadays.<BR/><BR/>But when I do select stuff sort of randomly, like a couple of e-books that I've tried, I've basically gotten cavemen who know how to give orgasms. Does that make sense?<BR/><BR/>Perhaps I ask too much of works whose main purpose is titillation.<BR/><BR/>For pseudo-alphas that I've read myself, a couple of Susan Johnson heroes come to mind. I adored Susan Johnson back in my early twenties. I still think she wrote better erotic romances in her day than almost anything else on the market today. But some of her heroes, from Wicked and Love Storm, especially, were practically petulant teenagers whose sudden aboutface turning into responsible men at the end of the book gave me whiplash, even though I enjoyed the books tremendously cuz they were so hot. ::wink wink::<BR/><BR/>So yes, I am able to enjoy a variety of heroes (and I don't mind at all tortured heroes who turn into semi-betas in the bedroom, a la Zsadist from Lover Awakened). But I do so long for more Rucks and Aragorns, men who are not only thoughtful, intelligent, masculine, and romantic in their own way, but also true leaders, men whose moral authority you can sense from a mile off.Sherry Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12313921077346721887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32397002.post-74260173867657968972007-10-14T13:49:00.000-05:002007-10-14T13:49:00.000-05:00I'm going to play devil's advocate and say that I ...I'm going to play devil's advocate and say that I love them all. I love the stereotypical alpha male (of course done right in a storyline I enjoy), I love the thinking woman's alpha hero. But aren't they one in the same? I think women write about real men fictionized for our benefit. The way we'd want them to be (at least at the end of the story). <BR/><BR/>I think we create our heroines just the same way. How many women are stuck in relationships that make no sense? How many of us have stayed with people too long for reasons in a book which would be called TSTL. Too many of us. But if you write about that so called 'weak, wimpy woman' you're gutted. She's TSTL they'll say. We write about the heroines we want to be, those fictionalized woman of such strength, intelligence and beauty, the general species pales in comparison. <BR/><BR/>I don't see too many heros in books who aren't thoughtful, intelligent, masculine, romantic (even in his own gruff way) and fathoms deep in love with the heroine at the end of the book. Whatever his frailties and faults are at the end either doesn't matter or have been ARCed appropriately in the book. Not many romances leaving them too dark and brooding even if he begins that way. <BR/><BR/>So I'm wondering who these pseudo alpha heros are? Who can give me a real fictionalized example of one in romance (and then you will, and of course, I won't have read the book).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32397002.post-17050151935335507332007-10-14T03:09:00.000-05:002007-10-14T03:09:00.000-05:00Viggo Mortensen: Perfect visual accompaniment for ...Viggo Mortensen: Perfect visual accompaniment for your post. Ooo baby! :-DAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32397002.post-75033384452668780142007-10-12T15:43:00.000-05:002007-10-12T15:43:00.000-05:00Could not have said it better. We need more real m...Could not have said it better. We need more real men, in fiction and in life.<BR/><BR/>And I must say that Aragorn illustrates the ideal perfectly.Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08504439129670380071noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32397002.post-54987824263531666482007-10-12T10:47:00.000-05:002007-10-12T10:47:00.000-05:00My favorite example of this is Justine Davis' susp...My favorite example of this is Justine Davis' suspense category, One of These Nights. I heard her call it "The Absent Minded Professor meets La Femme Nikita," and it fits! Heroine is a tough, sharp security expert, hero is a studious, genius inventor. I just loved the scene with the villain where the hero provides her a diversion so she can do her job, and then just lets her do it, without a thought about being "unmanly."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32397002.post-491876506071822632007-10-11T20:10:00.000-05:002007-10-11T20:10:00.000-05:00Amen, Sherry! I love it when a man knows who he i...Amen, Sherry! I love it when a man knows who he is so well that he doesn't need to prove it... when he understands that strength is in knowing both his skills and his weaknesses, and in learning to use both responsibility to answer whatever call is thrust upon him, or to meet the challenge, etc.Kathleen MacIverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02263212018219137277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32397002.post-74122560413436953622007-10-11T13:53:00.000-05:002007-10-11T13:53:00.000-05:00One of my biggest annoyances is with people who in...One of my biggest annoyances is with people who insist that in historicals, the men must be Lords because: who wants to read about a non-alpha? This always baffles me, because I figure that nobility is pretty much an accident of birth. You can have beta Lords as much as alpha Lords, after all. <BR/><BR/>And you can definitely have alpha men who are NOT Lords, or particularly wealthy. (Think of Nicholas Higgins in North and South--imagine his role played by Richard Armitage, and you'd have one darned yummy man. But if we're talking North and South, John Thornton is a to-die-for alpha who has no problems whatsoever thinking through solutions)<BR/><BR/>I am, of course, biased because my WIP features a man who I think of as an alpha hero, even though other people have disagreed. Yes, he wears glasses. Yes, he's a solicitor. He even has a good relationship with his parents, who were very, very poor and not like "oh, we're lords who have lost our fortune" poor, either.<BR/><BR/>He's also a natural leader.<BR/><BR/>Of course she gets to save his life. It would never even occur to him to be jealous or unhappy that she proved more capable than he under such circumstances. When she comes up with solutions that work, he doesn't think himself any less manly for going along with her, even if he has to admit he's wrong about it.Courtney Milanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03585322886111438759noreply@blogger.com